The Race Against Disease

The Back Story

     One cold day in the middle of January 2023, a bouncing baby boy was born. He had the bluest eyes like his mother, and dark brown, almost black hair like his father. They named him Joshua Tyler Collins. Nobody knew what was going to happen in this kids crazy life.
    When Josh was only a year old, his grandma died of cancer and then his grandpa took his own life a few months later. His parents then moved across the country because they had no family left. They decided to move to the small town of Corvallis, Montana. A town with a low crime rate and a nice school district.
    Josh grew up with his constantly working father, so he usually did things with his mom. His mom taught him how to play catch, read, and write ahead of his grade level. She also helped him with algebra when he was only in fourth grade. His parents were so proud of his intelligence and so was he. He was always going to summer camps to learn new things and even though he didn't need it, he insisted he go to summer school.
    All was going well with the Collins family, until one horrible day. Josh's father was diagnosed with liver cancer. The doctors said it has gone unnoticed for too long and he only had a few months to live. He quit his job, and Josh's mother had to get a job to make up for the money. Josh started getting close with his father and had switched roles. Josh was only ten, he didn't know what to do.
    As time went on, Josh kept getting closer and closer with his dad, he didn't have many friends because kids were afraid of how smart he was. So he spent time with his parents instead. He never got close to his dad like he was with his mother, but when he died, Josh was pretty devastated. A lot of strangers showed up to the funeral too, which made Josh even sadder.
    Josh was always focused on studying and learning, even in his free time. He wasn't one for socializing and video games, but he had his exceptions. Like when he got his first girlfriend at the age of 15. Her name was Abbriana Cameile. She was tall, though not as tall as Josh, had olive green eyes, and long, wavy, dirty blonde hair. She got along with Josh's mom and Josh got along with her family. They were together for a few years before Josh broke up with her and started going out with her younger sister. Abbriana's younger sister was named Stella.
     After Josh graduated, he went straight to college and since he graduated before most kids his age, he had a few years to wait before Stella graduated too. He was pursuing a science career. He had always been fond of biology but he didn't like people, so he decided a doctor wasn't a good choice.
    After he graduated college at the age of 25 with a master's degree in life sciences, Stella had also graduated, so they decided to move in together. They still lived in the small town of Corvallis so they were close to family.
    When Josh was 26 and Stella was 23, they got married and decided to have a kid. She was born in the middle of June with hazel eyes, and brown hair, they named her Claire. When she was six, Josh and Stella started seeing intelligence in her, though she wasn't as smart as her father. A few months after she turned six, she was diagnosed with brain cancer. A month later, Josh's mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died a few weeks later. Josh didn't know what to do. He kept telling Claire to keep fighting while Stella helped him cope with the loss of his mother.
    Things seemed to be improving for Claire, the doctors removed her tumor and she started improving. Josh was researching cancer with so many people in his family being affected by it, he wanted to know one hundred percent what was going on.
    All seemed to be gone by well. Until one fateful day, Claire got hit by a bus on her way home from work one night. She died on the scene and Josh was completely heartbroken. Josh noticed Claire seemed to be getting sick again. He found out she had cancer taking over her body and only had a fifteen percent chance of survival. Josh was finally understanding cancer. It was a disease that hated him. Claire died a few months later. He had Claire and Stella's funeral together and made sure they were buried together.
    Because of this, he vowed to find and eradicate what killed his whole family. He definitely tried to keep that promise